King of Shadows by Susan Cooper

Author:Susan Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

“I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and firk.”

That got a real laugh, probably helped by the fact my voice went up into a squeak because I was so scared—and then suddenly I was all right, I was the Boy, I was acting, and we went sailing through the scene, loudmouthed Pistol and the terrified French prisoner and me. I picked up the cues, I remembered the French speeches—there were only two really—and the audience carried us along. The other two were really good actors, caricature-funny; the groundlings loved them.

My only bad moment was my last speech, the Boy alone onstage after the other two have gone off; I did an awful lot of thribbling. But I was helped by the fact that I’d come way downstage, so that I was right on top of the groundlings: I fixed my eyes on one man near the front, with a round red face and two front teeth missing, and said everything right to him. It was a perfect eye contact; he was gaping at me, fascinated. And I did remember to say the last line, telling that the English camp was guarded only by boys—and that was the most important, because what happens then is that the French invade the camp and murder all the boys, and that makes King Henry truly furious.

So it all went okay, and I slipped offstage as the French soldiers came running on the other side. I’m not sure the audience ever knew or cared that they’d been watching a different Boy from the last one they’d seen. A boy was a boy; what they cared about was the story.

In the tiring-house I ran straight into Roper, and he threw his arms around me. He smelled terrible, because of having thrown up. I guess he knew that, since he let me go almost at once, but he stood there looking at me very seriously. He said, “I thought I was dead. Tha saved my life.”

“And me only a little lass,” I said.

Roper looked down at his feet. He said, rather muffled, “Tha saved me a beating too. Missing that cue—missing that scene—Master Burbage would have—”

“Cut off thine ears,” I said. “One by one, very slowly, inch by inch.” I grinned at him, which took some effort because my doing the Heimlich business had nothing to do with him. As far as I was concerned he was the same mean little monster he’d been before. He didn’t grin back; he went on giving me this same earnest look. I think Roper was feeling an emotion he’d never had to cope with before: guilt.

“I am in thy debt, Nathan Field,” he said stiffly. “I shall not forget.”

He patted me on the shoulder and I gave a sort of awkward shrug. I was wishing I knew the Elizabethan way to say, “Okay—just stop bugging me from now on.”

Will Shakespeare came sweeping past us toward the stage, pulling on the robe he wore as Chorus, ignoring an anxious tireman running after him with his hat.

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